Lorna Jane to pay $5m & costs over false ‘anti-virus activewear’ claims

July 23, 2021 3:26

The Federal Court has ordered activewear brand Lorna Jane to pay $5 million in penalties and costs for making false and misleading representations to consumers, and engaging in conduct liable to mislead the public, in connection with the promotion and supply of its “LJ Shield Activewear”.

Lorna Jane admitted that, between 2 and 23 July 2020, it falsely represented to consumers that its LJ Shield Activewear “eliminated”, “stopped the spread” and “protected wearers” against “viruses including COVID-19”. The misleading representations were made on in-store signage, on its website, on Instagram, in emails to consumers and in media releases. Proceedings against Lorna Jane were initiated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in December 2021.

The claims made by Lorna Jane about its LJ Shield Activewear included: “Cure for the spread of COVID-19? Lorna Jane Thinks So” and “LJ SHIELD is a groundbreaking technology that makes transferal of all pathogens to your Activewear (and let’s face it, the one we’re all thinking about is COVID-19) impossible by eliminating the virus on contact with the fabric”.

Be a member to keep reading

Join Mumbrella Pro to access the Mumbrella archive and read our premium analysis of everything under the media and marketing umbrella.

Become a member

Olivia Kruimel

Olivia Kruimel was the managing editor at Mumbrella. She has more than 15 years of experience in journalism, communications and marketing. Her journalism career began at Fairfax Media (now part of Nine) and includes various B2B publications such as B&T, Travel Today and ALB. As a marketer Olivia has worked for Standard Chartered and various global law firms.